Man charged with negligent child cruelty after baby's head trauma

Dalton police arrested 24-year-old Brian Gregory Allen Tuesday evening on a charge of negligent child cruelty in the second degree.

The charge comes after a head trauma investigation put a two-and-a-half month-old baby in the hospital earlier this month. The child survived the injury.

The investigation began January 4th when the Whitfield County Department of Family and Child Services contacted Dalton investigators about an infant being treated for head trauma at the TC Thompson Children’s Hospital in Chattanooga, according to Bruce Frazier, Public Relations Specialist for the Dalton Police Department.

The child was suffering from what doctors called a non-accidental head trauma.

Investigators say that Allen, who is not the child’s father, was taking care of the baby on January 4th.

He reported to a Dalton detective that he was playing with the baby. At about 4:00pm, Allen said that he noticed the baby had stopped breathing and contacted the baby’s grandmother, who called 911.

The baby was transported to Hamilton Medical Center and then airlifted to Chattanooga. The baby did survive and has since been released from the hospital.

Allen is charged with negligent child cruelty in the 2nd degree because the investigation found that he did not handle the baby with sufficient care while he said he was playing with the baby, but investigators do not believe that there was any intent on Allen’s part to harm the baby.